The invention relates generally to the field of containers and container covers, and more particularly to the field of containers and container covers featuring a structure for supporting a drinking straw external to the container.
For a number of practical and aesthetic reasons, many people enjoy consuming beverages through a straw. Conventionally, bulk beverages dispensed from a soda fountain are packaged on the fly in a disposable container fitted to a corresponding disposable lid which features a hole to accept a drinking straw. There are a number of common problems with this arrangement. One problem arises when drinks are being distributed to consumers by a service person for later consumption, as in a drive-through or fast food restaurant. In this situation, the beverage is generally packaged in cup and lid with the straw provided separately, often bagged with hot food. If the consumer wishes to drink the beverage before consuming the food (for example, while driving from the location of purchase to the location of consumption), then he must open the food container and look for the straw, thereby disturbing the contents and prematurely cooling it by releasing trapped heat. The simple alternative of placing the straw through the conventional lid hole creates the disadvantage that liquid, especially from a full container, can leak from around the lid hole when a straw is present, and the opening can accelerate the loss of carbonation in the beverage.
Various attempts to attach a straw to the cup generally prevent the stacking a fluid distribution of bulk beverages, which is critical to food service businesses that rely on rapid beverage deployment and the ability to greatly conserve space by stacking beverage containers and lids. Similarly, many designs are known in the prior art for attaching a straw to pre-packaged beverage containers, but pre-packaged beverages are generally not cost-effective for food service businesses as compared to bulk distribution via a soda fountain.
Conventional prior art designs have been proposed wherein a container or container cover is provided with a drinking straw attached thereto and available for to be inserted into the container at the time of use. Generally speaking, container cover designs have not offered a streamlined solution; prior art container cover designs are difficult to maintain or attach, and generally do not allow for easy and stable stacking. Similarly, container designs featuring a straw attachment have not offered a streamlined and minimized solution for attaching and holding a straw to a container. Some prior art solutions have straw holding components that are not an integrated part of the container itself.
In one class of examples, the prior art discloses containers that integrate a straw or tube into the exterior, but do not feature a removable lid and cannot be stacked or nested. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,460,264 issued 24 Oct. 1995 to Rupert teaches a sealed beverage container of molded plastic of the kind used for pre-packaged drinks that features a channel in the side where a drinking straw may be supported. Similarly, U.S. Design Pat. No. D517913 issued 28 Mar. 2006 to Mouyos teaches a semicircular support for a spray tube attached to the side of an aerosol spray can; U.S. Pat. No. 5,772,068 issued 30 Jun. 1998 to Hailey teaches an elongated cylindrical support for a spray tube attached to the side of an aerosol spray can; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,178,354 issued 12 Jan. 1993 to Engvall teaches a support for a spray tube constructed of opposing grip members attached to the side of an aerosol spray can. While all of these structures are directed to the problem of attaching a lightweight plastic tube, whether a drinking straw or a spray tube, to the side of a container, none are easily adapted to stackable containers because the involved containers—sealed drink containers of molded plastic and aerosol spray cans, are not themselves stackable nor are they frequently stored in an empty state separated from a lid, as with disposable beverage cups.
Even more troublesome for the user are structures that do not directly support a straw or spray tube, but instead require an additional attachment or apparatus to connect the straw or spray tube to the container for later use. In the field of aerosol spray cans, U.S. Pat. No. 6,412,671 issued 2 Jul. 2002 to Riley teaches a connector that encircles the spray tube and attaches by a string or line to a ring that encircles the aerosol spray can; U.S. Pat. No. 5,544,783 issued 13 Aug. 1996 to Conigliaro teaches a partially circular semi-flexible clip that attaches by tension to an aerosol can and supports a spray tube in a smaller partially circular clip on its outer circumference; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,558,247 issued 24 Sep. 1996 to Caso teaches a similar partially circular clip for an aerosol spray can. In the field of beverage containers, U.S. Pat. No. 2,395,734 issued 26 Feb. 1946 to Georgopoulos teaches a milk container that features a drinking straw tied to the top of the container by a waxed string; U.S. Pat. No. 5,325,982 issued 5 Jul. 1994 to Cobb teaches a bulky beverage cup handle capable of retaining a drinking straw; U.S. Pat. No. 4,850,495 issued 25 Jul. 1989 to Wallace, U.S. Pat. No. 4,775,060 issued 4 Oct. 1988 to Pinney, and U.S. Patent App. Pub. No. US 2008/0011909 published 17 Jan. 2008 of Daddario all teach clips of various kinds that retain a drinking straw on the side of a cup. All of the above apparatus are fiddly, cannot be deployed on stackable container or container lid, and are not streamlined for repeated deployment, as in a commercial establishment selling beverages in disposable containers.
The prior art also teaches a number of generally inadequate apparatus for integrating a drinking straw into a disposable beverage container or lid. This generally involves bending the straw around itself to make it more compact, however a bent straw, even with appropriately corrugated sections, can be fiddly to remove and may run a high risk of being damaged by the user while removing it. Damage to a drinking straw often results in a small centrally located hole that renders the whole straw no longer airtight and no longer usable for sucking liquids. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,036,392 issued 19 Jul. 1977 to Martin teaches a straw that is bent around double and embedded into a recess in a beverage container lid; U.S. Pat. No. 4,573,631 issued 4 Mar. 1986 to Reeves teaches a beverage container with integrated lid and external compartment containing a folded straw; U.S. Pat. No. 6,168,042 issued 2 Jan. 2001 to Kalagian teaches a beverage container with a circumferential or partially circumferential straw attached to the exterior of the container; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,247,016 issued 27 Jan. 1981 to Shaw teaches a straw circumferentially embedded in a beverage container lid and extending down into the container to form an integral straw apparatus. As above, all of these designs require great dexterity and fiddling by the user to free and use the straw, all at the risk of damaging the straw and rendering it useless.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,048,709 issued 17 Sep. 1991 to Alverson, directed at re-sealing previously sealed beverage containers (e.g. a common aluminum beverage can), teaches a cover for a previously sealed beverage container that features a ring attachment to retain a straw vertically exterior to the container, the straw being encircled by a second ring that attaches a cap for the straw opening. Besides being maladapted to a disposable never-sealed bulk beverage container, the Alverson apparatus requires the careful removal and replacement of the straw through a substantially rigid opening in the beverage container cover and the careful positioning of an easily-lost cap over the opening in the beverage cover. Regardless of the Alverson apparatus's merits as applied to reclosing of originally sealed beverage containers, its features are evidently poorly adaptable for use in a disposable container for distributing bulk beverages.
The below discloses an invention that address the aforementioned problems with bulk beverage distribution and substantially improves upon the aforementioned and other prior attempts to address those problems.